


Supernova

by Soeko



Category: Purple Hyacinth - Ephemerys & Sophism (Webcomic)
Genre: Angst, Angst with a Happy Ending, Bad Things Happen Bingo, Birthday, Bittersweet, F/M, Going to Hell, I Love You, I Made Myself Cry, I'm Sorry, Light Angst, Memories, Oh God Yes, Past Character Death, Pocket Watches, Sad, Sad and Sweet, Sad with a Happy Ending, Sisters, You Have Been Warned
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-03-06
Updated: 2021-03-06
Packaged: 2021-03-19 12:01:01
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,898
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29874339
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Soeko/pseuds/Soeko
Summary: The world shone with futile and sincere happiness. But there is never space for two suns, a star is destined to explode at some point, but not so soon, not like that. And time usually doesn't linger on this kind of thing and the rather dreaded day arrived without any pity or compassion.
Relationships: William Hawkes/Kym Ladell
Comments: 2
Kudos: 21





	Supernova

**Author's Note:**

> This is my first fanfic I'm posting here that won't be ship-centered, it feels good to change! On the other hand, you can't escape the angst... Sorry but you need a scale, most of my fanfics are fluff so you have to add sadness! As you may have guessed in the summary, this fanfiction will be about Kym and Daena :) 
> 
> To put it in context, it's Daena's birthday and some memories come back... I really saw Daena as a Sagittarius or Capricorn so I invented a birthday date in December haha
> 
> This is a fanfiction so yeah the 6th of December has already passed in PH timeline but Daena has to be a Sagittarius °^°
> 
> Enjoy your reading!

Ten years. A duration, an insignificant number that only amounts to dust if you compare this piece to the evolution of the human species through time. What is ten years in a human life? How can a collection of years have such a significant impact?

A date, ingrained in the calendar of memories, indelibly in our hearts that tightens when that date approaches, whether years later or not, the result is the same. Time hurts but never heals the wounds, it adds salt on it. 

The month of December is only magic for some, but for Kym it is a month of melancholy especially on the 6th day. Her dear sister would've be supposed to blow out candles, open various gifts and spend a joyful moment of sharing with her loved ones but instead she will surely receive absinthes and sunflowers on her grave. It was never Kym's style to be moody or sullen but it seemed like everything was meticulously organized to put her in a bad mood.

The day had started with a sulky Lauren who had come out of Hermann's office. Among the thousands of papers in the archive, Hermann was looking for the one that Lauren had discreetly "borrowed" without asking permission. This behavior could have been that of her missing sister, reckless, far too stubborn to care what others think, and Hermann had understood that. They had both looked at each other when Lauren left his office and Kym was convinced that the same person was in their thoughts. Even though he was trying to bury her in the oblivion, he too had been touched by Daena's death, he never failed to visit her where she now lies for eternity. 

The paperwoks were not going to fill themselves but the Sergeant was unable to write a sentence grammatically correct and with good spelling. The mistakes were more than piercing and even a child could correct them but Kym didn't care. Her quality of work may have been disturbing, but despite this unusual behavior a falsely drawn smile of gaiety never left her face, showing no sign of the alarming sadness that was so present.

Between the watch in her pocket and her heart, Kym wondered which one weighed the most at that moment. 

She had to pull herself together, she could not let anything show. What would become of the APD if their sergeant, resplendent with sparks of happiness, metamorphosed into a frail little girl in distress? 

"I've never seen you this hard on your work, Ladell, is everything all right?"

Kym raised her head to discern a truly worried lieutenant, not sacramental as she had expected.

"Yes, I'm fine! "

It was almost frightening to know that she had responded this way out of sheer habit, it was as if a mechanism had been activated. Had she hidden unhappiness so many times? 

"You may have a fever... Your breath is gasping."

He passed the palm of his hand on her forehead and then her cheeks, she did not move and watched him blink his eyelashes unaccustomed to this proximity. He looked so concentrated in his task that Kym could not try to annoy him. 

"I assure you I'm fine Willame, here, I've finished my stack of paperworks."

William opened his eyes wide and wondered how much confidence he had in his vision when he saw the volume of the pile, but he made no comment when he went to retrieve the pile of papers. 

"Please be careful Ladell, I don't want you to pass out on your desk. Are you sure you don't want to go home? "

Why did he know her so well? Kym would have dreaded the slightest conversation with Lauren, but she did not expect the lieutenant to be so worried about her well-being. 

"I'm fine, I'll take a break if I ever feel feverish."

William nodded, he knew Kym well enough to know that insisting would not help her mood. He left her not too convinced, just hoping she wasn't suffocating under the work.

༶•┈┈┈┈┈•༶

Kym couldn't end her day without a positive note, and if she didn't want to dwell on unpleasant memories, she had to go to the shooting practice range. Lauren had really tried to make Kym's day lighter, she had brought her pastries and offered her two novels because she knew the misunderstood love that united the sergeant to stories made up with action and sometimes a touch of fantasy. 

First target missed, impossible to shoot twice in a row in the same place. She couldn't reach out her arm without a lock of hair from a night stream or a crystalline laugh, clearer than spring water, coming back to her memory. The gun slipped out of Kym's loose palm and fell to the ground with a pitiful rattling sound. The young woman didn't even try to take it back, on the contrary, she joined it by squatting on an earthen cushion. 

Ten years since her death, and yet although she had lived with this painful grief for all those years, to this day, the crushing grief remains intact. The police officer decided to close her eyes and plunge into the tumultuous waters of her memories without looking back at the training targets.

༶•┈┈┈┈┈•༶

Keeping her memories with her sister was one of her dearest wishes, it didn't take long before the blurred image that was forming in her mind became perfectly clear. 

_Kym was 5 years old and was afraid of what she would experience, a place she didn't like but luckily she had her sister's arm to hold on to. Being afraid was not really associated with her personality, she could go out exploring the forest alone and ride down the slopes without fear. But there, the school was a whole other world, uncomfortable in her navy blue uniform that was too big, she let go of her grip on her sister's arm after having crossed the rusty gate that led them into the courtyard of the building. The fear was growing but her sister was there to watch over her and guide her. In the end the day was not so bad, she even remembered eating a candy apple when she got home._

_On stormy evenings, the two sisters would take refuge on a chair in front of the fire to read stories whose end was replaced by frustrating suspense, using their imagination they would tell each other all kinds of endings, some were sad, others were out of the ordinary._

_Daena was also very fond of legends related to nature, she often talked about the legend of the sunflower that declared that during a war between the Moon and the Sun. The daughter of the Sun, Helianthus, decided to fight the Moon and came out victorious. Furious at her defeat, the Moon cast a spell on Helianth who turned her into a sunflower so that she would always turn to her father._

Her mind was bubbling with new images from the past, but one seemed sharper than the others:

_on the morning of her seventh pale sunny Christmas morning, the tearing of a shiny red wrapping paper, a cry of surprise, and then an almost inaudible tinkling. Daena plunged her hand into the vermilion tinted box and pulled out a sparkling golden watch that fitted perfectly into both palms of her hands as they joined together. After that moment, not a day went by that Daena didn't have her watch on her, and sometimes Kym would get jealous of this jewel with its singing hands._

At that time, Kym could not imagine, could not even enter her mind that, a few years later, this watch would be her only compass to find herself in that infinite space, the only thing left of her sister that she would be able to touch. 

Kym noticed with dread that all she could remember were incomprehensible laughter, blurred faces, and hugs that no longer felt right. But there was still one thing she wanted to remember, she didn't know why she was doing it. She hoped it would allow her to be more at peace with herself for the rest of the day. The sun was beginning to fade, she would have to hurry to finish her inner memorial or else she would find herself locked up in the Office. She brought her knees close to her and crossed her arms to lean on it, this memory was one of her most cherished and she wanted to savor every second her memory would give her. 

_On the night of her ninth birthday, her cheeks had quickly become wet with salty tears of terror after waking up in the middle of a horrible nightmare in which Daena had disappeared forever. Her sister came into Kym's with a music box in her hands. After learning the cause of Kym's panic, Daena rushed to take her younger sister in her arms._

Kym could still remember the warm feeling that had settled in her heart at that moment. She felt protected from the slightest threat, untouchable even by the most treacherous and unattainable wishes, even if the gods wanted to overthrow her they couldn't, not while Daena was there, except that now she was no more. 

_Daena slowly detached herself from her sister to turn the key to the music box that would allow her to succumb to magic, to release the music that was contained in the depths of it._

_The first note flew through the air followed by other notes until the lullaby formed and soothed Kym. Daena tucked the sheets in while accompanying the music with the soft melody of her voice. These reassuring words helped Kym regain the world of sleep. These words were as effective as a good hot chocolate, as any berlingot with red fruits. That was all it took for Kym to fall asleep deeply and peacefully. She knew she could count on her sister in hard and perilous times. She had no idea that a few years later she would sing this music alone on the edge of a bridge on a clear night with a melancholy grin._

༶•┈┈┈┈┈•༶

The church tower announced that it was seven o'clock in the evening, Kym stood up again and rubbed the back of her pants to remove all possible traces of dirt. 

She set foot in the inanimate office, the smell of coffee was now just a faint odor that could hardly be smelled. Kym put her pistol in the hoster around her waist. The dim light under the door of Hermann's office indicated the presence of the captain. Kym was about to leave the establishment when she heard a hesitant voice behind her shoulder. 

"Do you need company?"

She didn't need to turn around to find out whose voice it was, she drank his words every day even when they weren't addressed to her, she could get drunk from it. Every sound it made was the center of her attention. 

"No thanks, I'm going to take a little detour anyway before I go home.

Her whole body refused to obey her because her heart wanted William's presence, wanted to be reassured, wanted to be heard and listened to. She nibbled her lips before declaring :

"Perhaps your presence would be welcome for once, Willame."

The lieutenant's lips formed a victorious grin before opening the door of the office to her, he would have liked to fold it down just before she crossed the threshold but he still had the manners of a respectable gentleman and on top of that Kym seemed to be quite moody, so he opted to cheer her up rather than play with fire. 

"So tell me Ladell, where are we going?"

The policewoman waited until they were both out of the workplace before she could tell him.

"I'd like to go to the cemetery to visit my sister, today she would have been 29 years old."

She paused, swallowed with difficulty because of the cold air burning her throat and then resumed: 

"You don't have to come, I can manage on my own."

William crossed the road and grabbed the officer by the sleeve before assuring her:

"No no, I'd rather come with you than have to put up with my father. I can't leave my dear Sergeant without making sure she didn't get home safely."

"Aww if you really insist Willame I can't refuse you anything, but I can assure you that what you just said will not be forgotten! I didn't know that I was so "dear" to you."

William coughed as usual when he was embarrassed or troubled, which did not escape the piercing eye of the woman with the dark night hair. 

༶•┈┈┈┈┈•༶

The atmosphere of mourning did not, however, make the young woman mute. She had even started to become the turbulent and teasing being she is on a daily basis. No opportunity to annoy William escaped her. Before going to the cemetery street, William pointed to a small, brightly colored store owned by a couple of florists. William whispered softly:

"Do you want to go there? I think Daena would appreciate a floral gift."

Kym nodded in agreement, by now her parents had probably already left a modest bouquet of sunflowers and absinthes from the garden, not the most beautiful or unique flowers, but they were the ones Daena picked all the time. Sometimes she would encrust them in her braided hair or make crowns or necklaces out of them. 

༶•┈┈┈┈┈•༶

A sound of bells filled the silence of the store as they entered. The interior decoration was rather banal, but the assortments of flowers were finely crafted and thoughtful. Their prices were perfectly matched to the quality, but the young woman didn't know if she was ready to put such a price on a bouquet that might not stand up to the weather. William, who had walked around the store, came up behind her. 

"Do you like this one? Don't worry, I can pay, it's the least I can do after this flawless productivity of yours this morning"

Kym hesitated in front of the orange assortment of yellow lilies, salmon roses, pale pink carnations, asparagus, horsetail, orange germinis, lecodendrons and aspidistra which was displayed on a sort of wooden shelf painted in a "James White" shade.

"For once I don't want to bother you Willame, these colors and flowers would have made her happy if she had received them in person but is that really reasonable? "

"Kym, you're never reasonable and I want to give your sister a proper gift"

"Oh my, you're going to make me jealous Willame."

She gave him a friendly elbow to the ribs and continued:

"Thank you very much, Will, I appreciate it."

Her face softened with an expression that William had never seen before and he didn't know why he was troubled by it. 

༶•┈┈┈┈┈•༶

The sandy ground of the walkway between the tombs skeaked under the soles. Kym, with the bouquet in her arms, stopped in front of a marble tomb granite colored on which was engraved in silvery letters

Here lies our dear and tender Daena, whose kindness equaled the courage. 

As Kym had predicted, a fresh bouquet had been placed by her parents. Kneeling on the ground, the woman with hazelnut eyes placed the flowers they had just bought. The Sergeant greeted her sister with a bitter smile:

"Hi Daena, I hope you're doing well, look I've brought you another visitor, his name is William. He is extremely annoying but he has a big kind heart. "

William knew her all too well and knew that she used humor so as not to break into tears. He put a reassuring hand on her shoulder. 

"Don't worry Daena, I take great care of your sister. She really is an admirable colleague and an incredible policewoman."

"I'm no longer unpleasant and horrible to bear now?"

William shrugged his shoulders

"You can behave like a real child, it's true. But who would be running the Office if you weren't here? Who would make me laugh if I didn't know you? It's certainly not my father who would teach me a sense of humor"

Kym didn't insiste on making a derogatory comment, she knew he was speaking in all sincerity and she didn't want to break this complicit moment. 

"You know... you're like a breath of fresh air. You can change the people around you for the better."

He scratched his neck under Kym's amused laughter. She had to admit that he was really adorable when he was embarrassed, this rarely happened but she liked to see him being himself. 

"I got that from her"

Kym looked up to the sky. 

"She always said that even behind the thickest clouds, even on the darkest night, there was and always would be a sun. It is the same with life."

Ten years. A duration, memories some blurred, others distinct. The embrace of a missing sister and the compassion of a recovering lieutenant. They will heal together, she would take care of his wounds one by one and erase his scars. Today her dear sister would have had to blow out candles under Kym's tender gaze, but fate decided otherwise. Happy birthday, to pain and happiness. Happy birthday to life and death. Happy birthday to the sun that has disappeared and remains in our hearts. **Happy Birthday**. 

**Author's Note:**

> My opinions are very divided about this fanfic but I hope I have described each feeling and emotion pretty well :)
> 
> The idea of Lauren's recklessness that resembles of Daena's, who reminds Hermann of Daena as soon as he sees Lauren is from @fwootloops
> 
> I only added that this feeling was the same for Kym
> 
> It took me two months to write just that, forgive me
> 
> Thank you so much for reading<3
> 
> Let me know what you think of it ;) 
> 
> Take care of yourself💕
> 
> See you soon !


End file.
